Kyle Gass (back) and Jack Black are Tenacious D.

Kyle Gass (back) and Jack Black are Tenacious D.

Your average journalist gets off the phone from interviewing Jack Black and his partner in mock’n’roll, Kyle Gass, feeling paranoid. You’re unsure whether they were angry with you, they were being sarcastic, or you’re just an idiot who didn’t quite get it.

Questions arise - are they like this all the time? Can anyone rock that hard? And how cool can a pair of chubby thespians with guitars be?

One thing is for sure, since their band Tenacious D - or "the D" - first appeared on the alternative stand-up comedy circuit in the USA, Black’s prickly, dark humour and his ability to scream and play guitar at the same time as Gass rocks out has gained the pair many fans, as well as a television series, a heavy-metal-folk record, rock star buddies like Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, a Spike Jonze-directed music video and soon a feature film.

Oh, and the title of "Greatest Band in the World" (which they conferred on themselves).

Black, who’s best known for his movie roles in the likes of High Fidelity and School of Rock, is filming King Kong in Wellington with director Peter Jackson.

But Tenacious D are back on the road - between Auckland and Wellington during Christmas and New Year. Before getting together this month, the pair were briefly reunited in a conference call between Auckland, Wellington and the US.

So what brings Tenacious D to New Zealand this December?

Kyle: Well, I wanted to visit Jack but I didn’t want to pay.

Jack: Ha ha.

Kyle: Actually no, we wanted to for a while so we thought why don’t we put on a few gigs. It was just one of those things

Jack: True. And actually I’ve been missing the ROCK.

So rock’n’roll or acting - if you had to choose one or the other, what would it be?

Jack: I would ROCK. It’s not so much that I miss the ROCK, it’s that I miss the performing of the ROCK. It feels good to get out there. It’s actually really nerve-racking right beforehand but then when you’re doing it, it can be, uh, orgasmic.

So how long has it been since you’ve had one of these rock orgasms?

Jack: It’s been a few months now.